Beijing eyes next big thing, a 5 trillion yuan economy

In a report at the opening ceremony of the 13th Beijing Municipal Congress of the Communist Party of China, Beijing's Party Secretary Cai Qi said that the capital's economic output will exceed 5 trillion yuan ($745 billion) in the next five years, with the per capita GDP and overall labor productivity taking the lead in the country.

The 5 trillion yuan GDP goal marks Beijing's march toward a higher economic target after reaching 4 trillion yuan last year. It also means that in the next five years, Beijing could become one of the world's central cities.

In the past five years, Beijing's economic output has grown from 2.8 trillion yuan to 4 trillion yuan. To exceed 5 trillion yuan in the next five years, Beijing's annual GDP growth should reach at least 4.5 percent. At the current growth rate, Beijing has a good foundation for economic development. In the first quarter of this year, Beijing's GDP reached 941.34 billion yuan. That is a 4.8 percent year-on-year growth rate if calculated at constant prices, 0.1 percentage point higher than the average growth rate in 2020 and 2021. The 4.8 percent growth rate was the highest among Chinese cities. Also, Beijing was the only one among the four major cities, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, to reach the national average growth rate in the first quarter.

There is no authoritative GDP ranking of world cities in 2021, but judging from the 2020 ranking, Beijing was preceded by New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, London and Shanghai. It can be said that Beijing is now at the forefront of world-class cities and could take a leading position soon.

Considering relatively weak economic development in other countries, the relatively high economic growth rate is expected to help Beijing's economic aggregate outpace more moderately developed economies.

Beijing's vigorous development of strategic emerging industries, new-generation information technology, scientific and technological services, sophisticated industries, digital economy, and green and low-carbon economy will also inject greater dynamism into its economic development. In the past five years, Beijing residents' income has grown at the same pace as its economic growth, and if Beijing's economic aggregate exceeds 5 trillion yuan in the next five years, the per capita disposable income of its urban residents is expected to exceed 100,000 yuan. That will surely make every Beijing resident have a stronger sense of gain and happiness.